Sterek Tumblr Shorts

Pen Pals

Stiles has a pretty good idea of what Derek looks like. They've been writing to each other since first year, when the professor for his Epistolary Novels class (which was supposed to be one of the lightest workload arts credit fills - a lie) assigned them all a pen-pal at a University on the other side of the country.

And sure, Stiles had thought it was dumb, but it turned out he got paired with someone awesome: Derek. Derek who was actually really, really passionate about the epistolary form because letters and diaries were one of the best ways for historians to learn about the past.

There are whole cities we wouldn't be able to find if it weren't for people writing letters! He'd written, and then followed it up with a long string of examples of things they only knew today because of letters. It was a nerdy ramble after Stiles' own heart.

He was in love.

(With Derek's brain.)

They kept writing, and it seemed Derek was just as surprised by their easy conversations, spaced out by the agonizing stretch of time between each honest-to-god snail mail delivery. And normally Stiles was more of an instant gratification kind of guy, but there was something about the anticipation that made the whole thing feel more intimate.

So much so that after the class finished he just ...kept writing. And Derek, because he was such a nerd (and great guy) kept writing back.

They did eventually switch to email and texting and IMs, and as they did Stiles developed a fuller picture of Derek: he had six (!!) older sisters and was the baby of the family, and they teased him constantly. He'd always been a huge history nerd, and but the kind of nerd who wasn't great with computers. He really preferred physical books where Stiles read almost everything on his phone.

What a nerd, Stiles often thought in the best way. Fondly. He was probably skinnier than Stiles, even, with glasses. Part of the assignment had been to not google their pen pals, so that everything they learned about them would come through their letters, and Stiles had (for once) followed that rule, and then sort of forgotten to ever look Derek up after the assignment ended. But had a whole mental image of Derek, and to be honest, it wasn't that far off from skinny pre-serum Steve Rogers, which wasn't Stiles' usual type, but, like the hero in an Austen novel, he had slowly come to know Derek over the past few years: his allergy to shellfish (for which he'd been hospitalized once, resulting in a gap between letters), how much he wanted a cat (but his building didn't allow pets), how he was learning to knit so he could make something for his mom for christmas this year.

He'd actually received a package from Derek a few weeks ago including a lopsided scarf. My first effort, so don't laugh too hard at me, Derek had written in the letter. It had been awhile since he'd gotten physical mail from Derek, and Stiles found he had missed his nerdy, perfect handwriting with its unnecessary curly-cues. Who even uses actual full cursive any more? Doesn't everyone just sort of half-ass cursive and print into a mish mash of convenience and lack of practice? Except Derek, obviously. Toward the bottom of the letter it got a little bit more cramped, almost as though he'd been nervous but determined to fit in these last details:

I'll be in California at the end of the month for thanksgiving. We should meet.

Stiles, ecstatic, had texted him back immediately, just a series of !!!!!!!!!!!!!! followed by thanks for the scarf and arranging where and when they could meet up. Derek suggested a coffee shop downtown. I'll wear my new scarf, Stiles texted back, so you'll recognize me. Derek sent an honest to god ascii smiley face back, :) , like he didn't know how to use emoji.

What a nerd.

The day of, he's nervous. He changes his clothes six times and can't stop fussing with his hair. They didn't say it was a date, but it, it feels like a date, like they've been building up to this for so long. And he honestly doesn't care what Derek looks like. He loves what a good person and total goober he is. He's had more than a few day dreams of getting a cozy apartment and a pair of cats and making out on the couch with Derek. ...He might be a little over-invested.